UDP MpegTS to HLS VOD for UDP MpegTS Re-Stream

UDP to HLS enables capturing of MPEG-TS UDP multicast streams, segmenting them into time-based HLS segments, creating .m3u8 playlists, and uploading them to MinIO or S3 storage. The segments and playlists can then be signed for secure playback. You can also run diskless and not store the segments locally, only in memory and upload to S3/MinIO. It has a container deployment option using Podman that sets up a local MinIO server and the capture application. See the hls to udp relay for a way to replay the content hls-to-udp.

graph LR
    A["UDP<br/>Multicast<br/>Stream"] -->|"Captured via libpcap"| B["Capture<br/>Module"]
    B -->|"MPEG-TS"| C["Segmentation<br/>Process"]
    C -->|"Segment"| D["HLS Segments<br/>and Playlist"]
    D -->|"Upload"| E["S3/MinIO<br/>Upload"]
    E -->|"URLs"| F["HLS<br/>Playlist"]
    F -->|"HTTP HLS Server"| G["HTTP<br/>Download"]
    G -->|"MpegTS UDP"| H["MpegTS UDP<br/>Multicast<br/>Stream"]
    H ~~~ Z1[" "]
    Z1 ~~~ Z2[" "]

    style A fill:#b3e0ff,stroke:#0066cc,stroke-width:2px,color:#003366,font-weight:bold
    style B fill:#b3ffb3,stroke:#006600,stroke-width:2px,color:#003300,font-weight:bold
    style C fill:#ffb3ff,stroke:#660066,stroke-width:2px,color:#330033,font-weight:bold
    style D fill:#ffcc80,stroke:#995200,stroke-width:2px,color:#663300,font-weight:bold
    style E fill:#ff99cc,stroke:#cc0066,stroke-width:2px,color:#660033,font-weight:bold
    style F fill:#e6b3e6,stroke:#660066,stroke-width:2px,color:#330033,font-weight:bold
    style G fill:#b3b3e6,stroke:#000066,stroke-width:2px,color:#000033,font-weight:bold
    style H fill:#b3e0ff,stroke:#0066cc,stroke-width:2px,color:#003366,font-weight:bold
    style Z1 fill:none,stroke:none,color:transparent
    style Z2 fill:none,stroke:none,color:transparent

Quick Start Guide (Containerized)

git clone https://github.com/groovybits/mpegts_to_s3.git
cd mpegts_to_s3

# Edit the config.env file to set the desired settings
vim config.env

# Start MinIO and the Mpeg_to_S3 capture using config.env values for settings
podman-compose up --build

There is a container at docker.io/groovybits/mpegts_to_s3:latest which can be used.

Quick Start Guide (Local Build)

Clone and Build the Project

git clone https://github.com/groovybits/mpegts_to_s3.git
cd mpegts_to_s3

# Build the udp-to-hls application in release mode
cargo build --release

# Build the hls-to-udp application in release mode
cd hls-to-udp
cargo build --release --features=smoother

Configure and Run the Components

1. Start MinIO Server

# Start the MinIO server (uses ./data/ for storage)
TARGET_SERVER=192.168.1.1 scripts/minio_server.py &

2. Serve HLS Playlist

# Create HLS directory for serving the index.m3u8 file
mkdir hls && cd hls

# Run Python HTTP Server to serve files from the ./hls/ directory
../scripts/http_server.py &

3. Capture and Segment UDP Stream to HLS

# Capture multicast stream from udp://224.0.0.200:10001 on interface eth0
# Segments can be saved to ./ts/ directory with 2-second duration and uploaded to S3/MinIO
SEGMENT_DURATION_SECONDS=2 \
../target/release/udp-to-hls \
    -n eth0 \         # Network interface for packet capture
    -i 224.0.0.200 \  # Multicast IP to filter
    -p 10001 \        # UDP port to filter
    -o channel01      # Unique Identifier and Output directory for .ts segments

4. Playback from HLS to UDP

See hls-to-udp for details on playback and VOD recall of specific date/time start/end points.

• Direct Playback:

  1. Use the index.m3u8 for playback of the current live stream:

     mpv -i http://127.0.0.1:80/index.m3u8
     

• MinIO Playback:

  1. Retrieve the signed URL for the desired hour:

     curl -s http://127.0.0.1:80/hourly_urls.log | tail -1
     

  2. Setup an SSH tunnel for the HTTP server:

     scripts/minio_tunnel.sh
     

  3. Play back the hourly playlist:

     mpv http://127.0.0.1:9000/ltnhls/2025/01/16/06/hourly_index.m3u8?...(signed_url_params)
     

• Custom Playback with hls-to-udp relay hls-to-udp

  1. Start the hls-to-udp relay

     cd hls-to-udp
     cargo build --release
     ./target/release/hls-to-udp -u http://127.0.0.1:80/index.m3u8 -o 224.0.0.200:10001
     

  2. Play the relayed stream

     mpv udp://224.0.0.200:10001
     

Prerequisites

• Rust Toolchain: Install via Rustup.
• MinIO/S3 Server: Ensure MinIO is available locally or via a container.
• Dependencies: Install libpcap for packet capture and FFmpeg (optional) for HLS segment generation.
• Ports: Open ports 9000 and 9001 for MinIO and the HTTP server.
• SSH Tunneling: For HTTP access to MinIO, set up SSH forwarding.
• LibLTNTSTools (optional): Use the smoother feature flag to enable the Bitrate Smoother.

---

## Usage

   | Option                                 | Description                                                  | Default                  |
   |----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|
   | -e, --endpoint <endpoint>              | S3-compatible endpoint                                       | http://127.0.0.1:9000    |
   | -r, --region <region>                  | S3 region                                                    | us-east-1                |
   | -b, --bucket <bucket>                  | S3 bucket name                                               | hls                      |
   | -i, --udp_ip <udp_ip>                  | UDP multicast IP to filter                                   | 227.1.1.102              |
   | -p, --udp_port <udp_port>              | UDP port to filter                                           | 4102                     |
   | -n, --interface <interface>            | Network interface for pcap                                   | net1                     |
   | -t, --timeout <timeout>                | Capture timeout in milliseconds                              | 1000                     |
   | -o, --output_dir <output_dir>          | Local dir for HLS output and Channel Name/Key                | channel01                |
   | --remove_local                         | Remove local .ts/.m3u8 after uploading?                      |                          |
   | --hls_keep_segments <hls_keep_segments>| Max segments kept in ${output_Dir}.m3u8                      | 3                        |
   | --unsigned_urls                        | Generate unsigned S3 URLs instead of presigned URLs          |                          |
   | --diskless_ring_size <diskless_rs>     | Number of segments in memory buffer                          | 1                        |
   | -v, --verbose <verbose>                | Verbose level                                                | 0                        |
   | -h, --help                             | Print help                                                   |                          |
   | -V, --version                          | Print version                                                |                          |

### Environment Variables:

#### udp-to-hls Environment Variables:

  - `CHANNEL_NAME`: Name of the channel (default: `channel01`) used as the subdirectory for HLS ts segments
  - `SEGMENT_DURATION_MS`: Duration of each segment in milliseconds (default: `1000`), (less than 1 second may not work well)
  - `FILE_MAX_AGE_SECONDS`: Maximum age of files in seconds to upload (default: `30`)
  - `URL_SIGNING_SECONDS`: Duration of signed URLs in seconds (default: `31104004`)
  - `MINIO_ROOT_USER`: S3 username / access key ID (default: `minioadmin`)
  - `MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD`: S3 password / secret access key (default: `minioadmin`)
  - `PCAP_PACKET_COUNT`: Number of packets to capture at a time (default: `7`)
  - `PCAP_PACKET_SIZE`: Size of mpegts packets to capture (default: `188`)
  - `PCAP_PACKET_HEADER_SIZE`: Size of mpegts packet ip/eth header (default: `42`)
  - `PACAP_BUFFER_SIZE`: Size of the pcap buffer (default: `4194304`)
  - `USE_ESTIMATED_DURATION`: Use estimated duration for manual segmentation (default: `true`)
  - `CAPTURE_BUFFER_SIZE`: Size of the capture buffer (default: `4194304`)
  - `PCAP_PACKET_COUNT`: Number of packets to capture at a time (default: `7`)
  - `USE_ESTIMATED_DURATION`: Use estimated duration for manual segmentation (default: `false`)
  - `M3U8_LIVE_SEGMENT_COUNT`: Number of segments to keep in the live m3u8 (default: `3`)
  - `USE_UNSIGNED_URLS`: Generate unsigned S3 URLs instead of presigned URLs (default: `false`)

---

## How It Works

1. **Capture:** The application uses `libpcap` to capture UDP multicast MPEG-TS packets on a specified interface.
2. **Segment:** It either:
   - **Automatically segments** streams with FFmpeg
   - **Manually segments** streams by directly processing MPEG-TS packets
3. **Upload:** A directory watcher uploads new `.ts` segments and playlists to S3 or MinIO.
4. **Playback:** The uploaded segments are accessible via signed or unsigned URLs, enabling HLS playback.
5. **Relay:** The hls-to-udp relay can be used to replay the content back as a multicast stream later or in real-time.

---

## Monitoring and Logs
- **MinIO Web Interface:** View uploaded files via the MinIO web client.
- **Segment Logs:** Signed URL logs are stored in `urls.log` in the output directory.

---

## Example File Structure
```text
hls/
├── index.m3u8
├── 2025/
    └── 01/
        └── 16/
            └── 06/
                ├── segment_20250116-060000__0000.ts
                └── hourly_index.m3u8

Development Notes

The full source code is located in the src/ directory. Additional utility scripts for managing MinIO and HTTP servers are available in the scripts/ folder.

For questions or issues, refer to the repository's issue tracker.

Author: wizard@groovy.org Date: January 15, 2025